Avid Media Composer 3.5 User guide

make manage move | media

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Avid

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Avid

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Media Composer

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Basics Guide

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Legal Notices

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Other patents are pending.

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This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

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Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that

the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in

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Manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, U.S.A. Patent Pending.

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Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

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“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code

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“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with

respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by

Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use

of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players

and the like.”

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The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample

Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are

subject to copyright protection.

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Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

The following disclaimer is required by Interplay Entertainment Corp.:

The “Interplay” name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid

products.

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This product may include the JCifs library, for which the following notice applies:

Party Software directory on the installation CD.

Avid Interplay contains components licensed from LavanTech. These components may only be used as part of and in

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Trademarks

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192XD I/O, 888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AniMatte,

AudioMarket, AudioPages, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel,

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AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, Beauty Without The Bandwidth,

Blacktooth, Boom, C|24, CamCutter, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Command|24, Conectiv, CountDown,

DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine,

Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiSerial, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTranslator,

DINR, DNxchange, do more, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, Equinox, EveryPhase, ExpertRender, Fastbreak, Fast Track,

FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, FXDeko, G7, G-Rack, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack,

Hollywood DV-Bridge, Hybrid, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, iNEWS,

iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, Intelli-Sat, InterFX,

Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, Lightning,

ListSync, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro,

Maxim, Mbox, MCXpress, Media Browse, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion,

MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, MediaStream, Media Suite, Meridien, MetaFuze,

MetaSync, MicroTrack, Midiman, MissionControl, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, NaturalMatch, Nearchive,

NetReview, NewsCutter, Nitris, NRV-10 interFX, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework,

Open Media Management, Palladium, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle Geniebox, Pinnacle HomeMusic,

Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle PCTV, Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Pinnacle PCTV Nano Stick,

Pinnacle PCTV To Go, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle

VideoSpin, ProEncode, ProServices, ProSessions, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger,

Reel Tape Saturation, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync,

SecureProductionEnvironment, Session, Show Center, Sibelius, SIDON, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter,

Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, Starplay, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie,

StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap, Sundance Digital, Sundance, Symphony, SYNC HD, SynchroScience,

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SynchroScope, Syntax, Targa, TDM FlexCable, Thunder, Titan, Titansync, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab,

TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, Torq, Torq Xponent, Transfuser,

Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Venom, VideoRAID, Video Slave Driver, VideoSPACE,

VideoSpin, Vortx, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or

trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Footage

Arri — Courtesy of Arri/Fauer — John Fauer, Inc.

Bell South “Anticipation” — Courtesy of Two Headed Monster — Tucker/Wayne Atlanta/GMS.

Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.

Eco Challenge Morocco — Courtesy of Discovery Communications, Inc.

It’s Shuttletime — Courtesy of BCP & Canadian Airlines.

Nestlé Coffee Crisp — Courtesy of MacLaren McCann Canada.

Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications.

“Tigers: Tracking a Legend” — Courtesy of www.wildlifeworlds.com, Carol Amore, Executive Producer.

"The Big Swell" — Courtesy of Swell Pictures, Inc.

Windhorse — Courtesy of Paul Wagner Productions.

Arizona Images — KNTV Production — Courtesy of Granite Broadcasting, Inc.,

Editor/Producer Bryan Foote.

Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.

Ice Island — Courtesy of Kurtis Productions, Ltd.

Tornados + Belle Isle footage — Courtesy of KWTV News 9.

WCAU Fire Story — Courtesy of NBC-10, Philadelphia, PA.

Women in Sports – Paragliding — Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment, Inc.

GOT FOOTAGE?

Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators — Broadcasters — Content

creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to share it with the world?

Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*

For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.

*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid Media Composer Basics Guide • 0130-07971-01 • February 2009

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Contents

Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Accessing the Online Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Accessing the Goodies Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 1 Editing Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Editing Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Starting a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Preparing to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Editing a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Outputting a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Chapter 2 Starting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Turning on Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Working with the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using the Macintosh Dock (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using Shortcut Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using the Keyboard for Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using the Mouse Scroll Wheel for Navigating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Customizing Mouse Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Suggestions for Optimum Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Turn Off File Sharing (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Optimum Performance (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Antivirus Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Starting Your Avid Editing Application (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Starting Your Avid Editing Application (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Working with Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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Select Project Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Project Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Raster Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Raster Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Setting Film Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Opening an Existing Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Opening the Startup Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Browsing for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Opening a Project Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Deleting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Quitting Your Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Turning Off Your Equipment After Quitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Changing Project and User Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Backing Up Your Project Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or on Removable Media . . . . . . . . 70

Restoring from a Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Avid Attic Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Using Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Opening Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Customizing Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Linking Toolsets to Other Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Controlling Project Window Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using the Bins Tab in the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Viewing a List of Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Creating a New Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Renaming a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Opening and Closing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Displaying Folders of Bins in the Bins List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Deleting a Bin or Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Viewing Contents in the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Emptying the Trash in the Bins List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Saving Bins Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Using the Settings Tab in the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Using the Format Tab in the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Chapter 4 Preparing for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Logging and Shot Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Importing Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Preparing the Hardware for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Getting Information About Striped Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Establishing Sync for Audio-Only Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Selecting Settings for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Understanding Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Selecting Video Resolutions and Media Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Setting Drive Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Configuring Decks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Configuring a Deck or Multiple Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Deleting Deck Configuration Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Connecting a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Setting Up the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Opening the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Changing the Power Scheme (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Selecting a Deck in the Capture Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Activating Playback from an Available Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Selecting a Source Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Selecting Source Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Setting the Video and Audio Input in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Detecting a Valid or Locked Sync Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Setting the Pulldown Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Film Project Pulldown and Transfer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

10

Capturing Digital Audio in Film Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Selecting a Resolution in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Selecting a Target Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Selecting the Target Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Interpreting the Time-Remaining Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Selecting a Custom Preroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Preparing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Audio Project Settings for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Selecting the Audio Sample Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Performing Audio Sample Rate Conversion During Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Understanding Audio Files and Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Selecting the Audio File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Selecting the Audio Input Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Configuring the Sound Card (Software-Only Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Sound Card Configuration with Surround Sound Capabilities

(Software-Only Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Understanding the Audio Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Opening and Sizing the Audio Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Adjusting Audio Input Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Preparing for Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Opening the Video Input Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Using the Factory Preset Buttons in the Video Input Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Preparing to Calibrate Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Calibrating Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Luminance Settings for Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Capture Preparations Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Chapter 5 Capturing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Capturing and Logging at the Same Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Naming Clips and Adding Comments in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Capturing by Setting Both Marks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Capturing by Setting Only One Mark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Capturing On-the-Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Preparing to Autocapture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

11

Autocapturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Capturing from a Non-Avid-Controlled Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Capturing with Time-of-Day Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Capturing Directly from a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Capturing DV 25 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Selecting the DV 25 Software Codec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Capturing DV 50, DVCPRO HD, or HDV Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Selecting a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Frame Chase Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Understanding Frame Chase Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Enabling Frame Chase Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Requirements and Guidelines for Frame Chase Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Batch Capturing from Logged Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Preparing to Batch Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Batch Capturing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Recapturing Your Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Saving Two Versions of a Sequence When Recapturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Using Decompose When Recapturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Recapturing the Sequence Without Using Decompose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Chapter 6 Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Preparing to Import Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Creating and Modifying Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Importing Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Importing Audio Files from a Music CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Adjusting Gain Before Importing Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Reimporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Batch Import Dialog Box: Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Chapter 7 Working with Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Setting the Bin Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Object Icons in Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Understanding Bin Highlight Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

12

Using Brief View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Using Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Using Frame View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Using Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Basic Bin Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Using the Bin Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Selecting Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Duplicating Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Moving Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Copying Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Deleting Bin Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Changing the Bin Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Working with the SuperBin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Enabling and Disabling the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Opening Bins in the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Closing the SuperBin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Moving Bins into and out of the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Moving Clips and Sequences into and out of the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Copying Clips and Sequences into and out of the SuperBin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Deleting a Bin with the SuperBin Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Creating a Storyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Chapter 8 Managing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Working with Media Files in an Avid Interplay Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Configuring Avid Editing Systems for the Interplay Engine

and Interplay Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Using Avid Editing Systems in an Avid Workgroup Environment . . . . . . . . . . 199

Disconnecting an Avid Editing Application from the Interplay Environment . . . . . . 200

Voluntarily Disconnecting from the Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Limitations of Disconnected Client Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Using Disconnected Client Mode with Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Using Avid Editing Systems in an Avid Unity LANshare Workgroup . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Viewing Media with a 100Base-T Connection to Avid Unity ISIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Understanding Drive Mounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

13

Mounting and Unmounting Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Basic Media Tool Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using the Media Tool in an Avid Interplay Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Opening the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Understanding the Consolidate Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Using the Consolidate Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Consolidate Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Using the Transcode Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Transcode Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Loading the Media Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Refreshing Media Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Deleting Unreferenced Clips and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Chapter 9 Viewing and Marking Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Viewing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Customizing the Composer Window and Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Resizing the Composer Window and Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Using the 16:9 Display Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Displaying Tracking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Tracking Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Playing Video to the Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Selecting the Video Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Playing Video to a Full-Screen Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Loading and Clearing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Loading Clips or Sequences into Monitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Switching Between Loaded Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Clearing Clips from Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Controlling Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Playback Control Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

14

Stepping Forward and Backward by Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Playback Control Using the Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Playing Footage with the J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Playing Back to a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Video Quality Options for Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Setting the Video Quality for Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Marking and Subcataloging Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Marking IN and OUT Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Marking an Entire Clip or Segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Creating Subsequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Subclips and Audio Sync for 24p and 25p Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Marking Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Finding Frames, Clips, and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Using Timecode to Find a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Searching for a Clip or Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Understanding Match Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Using Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Performing a Reverse Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Selecting Tracks for Matching Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Finding a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Locating a Master Clip from a Subclip in a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Finding a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Chapter 10 Creating and Editing Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Entering Source/Record Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Creating a New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Changing the Name and Timecode for a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Track Display for New Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Adding Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Making a First Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Creating an Instant Rough Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Undoing or Redoing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Editing Additional Clips into the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

15

Performing an Insert or Splice-in Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Performing an Overwrite Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Performing a Replace Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Enabling Single-Mark Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Mixing Video Formats in a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Working with Interlaced Clips in Progressive Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Lifting, Extracting, and Copying Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Lifting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Extracting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Copying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

The Avid Clipboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Using the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Playing Back a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Tips for Avoiding Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Customizing Sync Break Display in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Fixing Sync Breaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Tips for Fixing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Chapter 11 Using the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Customizing Timeline Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Examples of Customized Timeline Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Using the Timeline Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Timeline Fast Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Enlarging and Reducing Timeline Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Moving Timeline Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Highlighting Offline Media Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Highlighting Clips in a Mixed-Format (SD and HD) Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Managing Customized Timeline Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Navigating in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Understanding the Timeline Position Indicator and Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Switching to the Timeline Position Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Setting the Scroll Option for the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Zooming and Focusing in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

16

Controlling Movement in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Using Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Guidelines for Editing in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Selecting and Deselecting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Selecting Multiple Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Four-Frame Display in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Suppressing Four-Frame Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Maintaining Sync in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Editing Segments in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Moving Segments with Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Deleting Segments in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Marking Clips and Sequences in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Working with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Understanding the Track Selector Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Selecting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Understanding Track Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Monitoring and Soloing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Patching Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Understanding Locking and Sync Locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Locking and Sync Locking Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Adding and Deleting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Backtiming Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Chapter 12 Working in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Understanding Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Trim Settings Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Setting Small Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Using Basic Trim Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Selecting Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Selecting Video Tracks in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Soloing Audio in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

17

Selecting Additional Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Reviewing Trim Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Trimming On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Using Dual-Image Playback During Trims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Trimming During a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Chapter 13 Working with Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Overview of Audio Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Accessing Audio Effect Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Using Audio Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Using Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Selecting Tracks for Audio Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Performing Smooth Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Adjusting Digital Scrub Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Performing Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Soloing Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Audio Displays in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Displaying Audio Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Identifying Sample Rates by Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Using Audio Meters in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Adjusting Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Working with Surround Sound or 5.1 Audio (Avid Nitris DX

and Avid Mojo DX Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Setting Up the Analog Audio Output for Surround Sound

(Avid Nitris DX and Avid Mojo DX Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Setting Up the Audio Output with HDMI (Avid Nitris DX

and Avid Mojo DX Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Adjusting Buffer Size (Software-only Models). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Using the Audio Mixer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Accessing the Audio Mixer and Audio Mixer Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Audio Mixer Tool Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Resizing the Audio Mixer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Track Selection in the Audio Mixer Tool and in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Using the Track Solo and Track Mute Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

18

Interpreting Position Indicator Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Using Clip Gain and Pan Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Adjusting Clip Gain and Pan for Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Audio Mixer Fast Menu: Clip Gain and Pan Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Modifying How Your Avid Editing Application Interprets Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Using the Center Pan Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Using Automation Gain and Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Using Automation Gain and Pan in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Deleting Automation Gain or Automation Pan Keyframes in the

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Automation Gain and Pan Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Understanding Automation Gain or Automation Pan Recording . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Using the Audio Mixer Tool for Automation Gain and Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Audio Mixer Tool Fast Menu: Automation Gain and Pan Mode . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Using Keyboard Shortcuts with Audio Keyframes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Using Live Mix Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Entering Live Mix Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Using Live Mix Mode with an External Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Using Live Mix Mode Without an External Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Switching Between Live Mix Mode and Other Audio Mixer Modes . . . . . . . . . 380

Audio Mixer Tool Fast Menu: Live Mix Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Live Mix Mode Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Isolating Clip Portions for Audio Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Fading and Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Fading Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Audio Sample Rate Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Changing the Audio Sample Rate for Sequences and Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Mixing Down Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Chapter 14 Working with Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Types of Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Effects Creation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Real-Time Effects and Non-Real-Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

19

Effects and Project Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

AVX Plug-In Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Understanding the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Displaying and Adjusting the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Promoting and Demoting Existing Effects in Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Applying Effects From the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Using the Fade Effect Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Using the Quick Transition Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Deleting Effects in a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Sizing Effects to Fit the Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Adjusting Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Entering Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Understanding Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Making Basic Effect Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Moving Through an Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Working with Effect Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Saving an Effect Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Applying an Effect Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Working with Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Understanding Standard Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Adding a Standard Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Selecting a Standard Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Moving a Standard Keyframe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Changing a Standard Keyframe’s Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Copying and Pasting Standard Keyframe Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Deleting a Standard Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Playing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Playing an Effect in Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Playing Real-Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

Understanding Render On-the-Fly for Effect Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Using Render On-the-Fly for Effect Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Real-Time Playback of Video Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

20

Understanding Real-Time Effects Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Understanding Real-Time Playback Information in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . 424

Turning Playback Performance Indicators On or Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Options for Controlling Real-Time Effects Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Controlling Real-Time Effects Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Playing Effects Back at Different Video Qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Basics of Effects Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Understanding Effects Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Rendering a Single Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Rendering Effects at Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Rendering Effects Between IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Displaying Estimated Render Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Clearing Rendered Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Rerendering Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

ExpertRender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Understanding ExpertRender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Using the ExpertRender Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Using the ExpertRender Command After a Real-Time

Playback Attempt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Modifying ExpertRender Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Considerations When Using ExpertRender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Chapter 15 Working with Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Opening the Title Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Using Marquee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Workflow for Creating Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Understanding the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Using the Selection and Text Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Setting Up the Drawing Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Previewing Titles with Anti-Aliasing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Displaying Safe Title and Safe Action Guidelines in the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . 453

Understanding Title Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Selecting a Background for Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Creating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

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Avid Media Composer 3.5 User guide

Avid Media Composer 3.5 User guide

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